Barbara Bedell: Orange County Open Studio Tour on tap

The fifth annual free Orange County Open Studio Tour will be offered from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on two weekends beginning Saturday and Sunday, continuing Oct. 19 and 20.

Barbara Bedell

The fifth annual free Orange County Open Studio Tour will be offered from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on two weekends beginning Saturday and Sunday, continuing Oct. 19 and 20.

The tour will highlight 66 visual artists at their studios. For the convenience of the public, the locations have been divided. Those in the eastern end of Orange County (including Cornwall and Newburgh) can be visited Saturday and Sunday. Those in the western end (including Middletown, Florida, Port Jervis and one in Bloomingburg) are open Oct. 19 and 20. The artists' talents and where they work are being shown through the tour's generous sponsorship from M&T Bank and C&S Wholesale Grocers.

By visiting ocartscouncil.org, people will be able to find the artists' names and locations of their studios. For information today and Friday, call Jen D'Andrea, arts administrator, at 469-9168 or email jen@ocartscouncil.org.

Clarence "Duke" Wade, 94, of Middletown, who only recently retired from Monticello Casino and Raceway, is proud of his brother, Willie Lovell Wade.

When Memorial Day comes, Willie's name is read first on Goshen's list of America's heroes who paid the ultimate price during wartime. He served on the aircraft carrier Wasp, which went down off Guadalcanal Sept. 17, 1942, four days before his 20th birthday. Sadly, he was Goshen's first casualty in World War II.

The history of the Wade family, all sharecroppers, included seven children. They lived outside Luling, Texas, where Willie and his older brother "Duke" were born. Duke migrated to Goshen in Orange County in the early 1930s, and Willie followed a few years later. He enlisted in the Navy June 22, 1940 — no one questioned that he was only 17.

In recent months, Duke, who has lived a good life, spending more than seven decades in Orange County and being recognized as a leader in several organizations, including the NAACP, has received letters from the editor of a Texas newspaper where the Wade family history is being preserved.

Not only is Willie's service to his country held in high esteem in Texas and Goshen, but also his name is memorialized with that of others in Honolulu, Hawaii, and at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego.

Harness driver Mike Merton was the winner of the ninth edition of the Munich Mile, the sixth leg of Monticello Raceway's yearlong Heritage Drivers Series.

The race honors drivers of German descent and is usually conducted earlier than October, but because the North American Amateur Drivers Association was welcoming four native German drivers at three different tracks, all within a reasonable distance of Monticello, the race was rescheduled to coincide with their visit.

The 11th annual Walk to Fight Hunger to benefit the Hudson Valley Food Bank will start at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Walkway Over the Hudson. For information, call 534-5344 or visit foodbankofhudsonvalley.org. The 10th annual Move-A-Thon to help parents dealing with autism will be from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday at Orange County Park on Route 416 in Campbell Hall. For information, visit mhaorangeny.com/amoc.html.

Barbara Bedell's column appears daily. Reach her at 346-3125 or by email: bbedell@th-record.com.

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